1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal device in which light transmitted through a liquid crystal is modulated by controlling the orientation of the liquid crystal to display an image. The present invention also relates to an electronic device using the liquid crystal device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, liquid crystal devices have widely been used for electronic devices such as a computer, and a cell phone. The liquid crystal device generally comprises a liquid crystal sandwiched between a pair of substrates each comprising an electrode so that the orientation of the liquid crystal is controlled by applying a voltage between both electrodes to modulate light transmitted through the liquid crystal, to display an image.
On the basis of the system for supplying light to the liquid crystal, various known liquid crystal devices are distinguished into a reflective liquid crystal device having a structure in which external light is reflected by a reflector plate provided on the outer surface or the inner surface of one of substrates, a transmissive liquid crystal device having a structure in which light is supplied to the liquid crystal in a planar manner by using an illuminating device provided outside one of the substrates, and a transflective liquid crystal device which functions as a reflective type when external light is incident, and functions as a transmissive type when external light is insufficient.
As the liquid crystal device on a system in which light is supplied to the liquid crystal by using the illuminating device, such as the transmissive liquid crystal device, or the transflective liquid crystal device, a liquid crystal device is conventionally known, in which a light emitting device such as LED (light emitting diode), or the like is used as a light emission source. In the liquid crystal device on this system, the light emitting device is mounted on a non-flexible substrate such as a glass epoxy substrate, and the non-flexible substrate is mounted on a housing of a light guide so that the light emitting device is arranged opposite to the light receiving surface of the light guide.
However, the conventional liquid crystal device having the above-described structure has the need to use a dedicated non-flexible substrate for the light emitting device and the need to form a structure for supporting the non-flexible substrate, thereby causing the problem of increasing the cost, complicating the structure and failing to achieve a small liquid crystal device.
The present invention has been achieved in consideration of the above problem, and a first object of the present invention is to simplify a supporting structure for a light emitting device to achieve a small liquid crystal device at low cost.
A second object of the present invention is to prevent deviation of the position of a light emitting device relative to a light guide to prevent the occurrence of variation in the efficiency of light incidence on the light guide even when a supporting structure for the light emitting device is simplified, thereby preventing the occurrence of variation in the light supplied to a liquid crystal.